Israel: Kan Opens The Submission Window For Eurovision 2026

Israel will select its Eurovision 2026 artist via “The Rising Star For Eurovision 2026” (“Hakohav Haba Shel Israel La’Eurovision 2026”).
However, the song will be selected internally.

Kan has opened the submission window for the internal selection:

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Israel’s Song Selection For Eurovision 2026 – Known Details

1. The submission window opened on December 21st, 2025, and will close on January 26th, 2026.
2. The song writers must hold Israeli citizenship. However, one of the composers/producers can be foreign.
3. The song must feature at least 2 sentences in Hebrew.
4. Songwriters whose song had been selected for Eurovision for 2 years in a row can’t submit a song.
5. Songwriters who is in charge of songs representing other countries in Eurovision 2026 will be banned.
6. The selection promotes fair competition and therefore encourages songwriters to submit their songs performed by anonymous performers (and even using AI tools). In particular, the performer can’t be one of the songwriters.
7. Each songwriter/composer can submit up to 2 different songs.
8. Submissions will be made online via Kan’s website
9. Kan has the right to approach songwriters to submit songs directly.
10. Once the submission window closes, a preliminary committee will shortlist the songs. The committee will feature Kan‘s representatives, musicians, TV personalities, and more. They will shortlist up to 40 songs.
11. The main committee will then examine the shortlisted songs. This committee will be based on representatives of Kan, Keshet 12, the public and music industry experts.
12. The main committee will pick a handful of songs to be recorded by the Israeli artist for Eurovision 2026, and get a final decision based on them.
13. The final of “The Rising Star” will be held towards the end of January 2026.
14. Kan will reveal the Israeli song for Eurovision 2026 at the beginning of March 2026.
15. The full regulations can be found here

Currently, 18 artists remain in the race t o represent Israel in Eurovision 2026:

1. Alona Erez
2. Shira Zaluf
3. Gal De Paz
4. Noam Bettan
5. Michael Harpaz
6. Agam Hazan
7. Naveh Levi
8. Stav Vaknin
9. Mantamer Tagenia
10. Portrait Band
11. Eitan Aharon
12. Elior Shemesh
13. Tamir Levi
14. Dorin Or
15. GIli Tzanaani
16. Shaya Avitan
17. Shaked Solomon
18. Daniel Azar

Israeli national broadcaster Kan will collaborate with the commercial channel Keshet 12 for the 9th year on the Eurovision project.
As in the past (2015-2020, and 2023-2025), the Israeli artist for Eurovision will be selected via “Hakochav Haba La’Eurovision” (Eng: The Rising Star For Eurovision).
Keshet 12 aims to select the artist by February 2026

Yuval Raphael represented Israel in Eurovision 2025
She performed “New Day Will Rise” and ended in 2nd place.

Eurovision 2026 will be held in Vienna, Austria, on May 12th, 14th, and 16th, 2026.